French farmer jailed for killing suspected truffle thief
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Version 0 of 1. A French farmer has been sentenced to eight years in prison for shooting and killing a man he thought was stealing his truffles. Laurent Rambaud, 37, had grown increasingly frustrated with a spate of thefts in the south-eastern region of Drome. On the night of 20 December 2010, he headed out into his fields armed with a shotgun. He came across 43-year-old Ernest Pardo, who was known as a truffle hunter and had previous indictments for theft, who was walking with his dog. Taking him for a thief and believing him to be armed, Rambaud fired two shots at Pardo, killing him almost immediately. The prosecutor Gilbert Emery had sought a 12-year sentence for Rambaud, arguing that the farmer was “conscious of his actions” and that he had an “obsession of chasing away the [suspected] truffle thief, of catching him and of eliminating him”. The charge against Rambaud had been reduced from murder to manslaughter after the court decided the killing was not premeditated. Rambaud, who was president of the young farmers’ association in the region and a volunteer fireman, had repeatedly complained about thefts. Truffles are a delicacy in France. Known as “black diamonds”, they are worth about €1,000 per kilo during the holiday season. “This is a man who felt he was in danger that night. He was scared,” his lawyer Alain Fort said in opening remarks at the trial, adding that local farmers had been confronted by armed thieves. |